Choice of Peace, Result of Chaos
by Primuler
Summary: Set after the ending. Almost no OOCness guaranteed. Written because I disagree with Aang's aspects at finale. Mai is killed, leaving a strange symbol. Everyone sets out to find the murderer. Once again, Aang and Zuko's thoughts about revenge clash.
1. Summary

This is complete outline of the first draft and summary of whole story. For the revised version I mentioned in my other fic, I'll upload it when I'm finished with summaries. Sorry!

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Set few months after the series ended. Mai disappears shortly after Zuko's coronation. Everyone tries their best to search for her, but fails. Few months after, Mai returns with heavy injuries all over her body. Healers and Katara try their best to cure her, but the wound is too fatal. And unfortunately Mai isn't able to talk due to the wound. Few days after her return, she dies leaving a strange symbol. Burning with rage, Zuko tries to search for the person who done it, however there are too few clues. Instead of letting people search for him, he decides to do the revenge himself. Zuko, Katara, Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki goes to Fire Nation Communication Tower to search for the information about the symbol. There, Zuko tells Katara why he felt so sorry for Mai's death...

After a lot of research, everyone feels that something fishy is going on in the Fire Nation Army. When Sokka asks Zuko what is he going to do when he finds the murderer, Zuko says that he will have that person executed by the law of nation. Aang comments that Zuko is somehow growing to be too much like Ozai and he should forgive the murderer instead. Then, a fight between Zuko and Aang breaks out but Suki prevents them, saying that it's not the time to fight over matters like this when this dangerous assasin army might be at large. When all of them return to the mainland of Fire Nation, meaning to ask questions to Ozai, they spot some rebellions. Although the lower class of Fire Nation liked Zuko's policies, higher classes didn't. It seemed that higher classes managed to pursuade lower classes to hate Zuko. It seems that the rebellions are going to strike the palace in a few weeks. Azula, who had been changed a lot due to the treatments she received(she doesn't want to be like Ozai now), sends Zuko and Katara to Water Tribe, Aang and Toph to Earth Kingdom in order to ask for helping hand and armies to prevent the rebellions(Sokka and Suki remains in the palace to spy on the rebellions). They decide to solve Mai's problem later. On the way to water tribe on coach, Katara and Zuko gives a ride to an old woman who said his son was coming after her to kill her. When Zuko and Katara arrives at Water Tribe, they find that the Water Tribe still has some hostility towards Fire Nation. Water tribe refuses to send some men to Fire Nation. Katara tries to persuade the head of Water tribe, but fails. In the end, the head says he will send a small army later. On the way back to the Fire Nation, Zuko and Katara spots the old woman they had helped earlier. She was running away from her son who turned out to be... Yon Rah. Katara is shocked to see him again. Before Katara and Zuko could do anything, the old woman jumps off from the edge of the cliff, saying that she's ashamed of having a son like him. Unable to contain his anger, Zuko lunges at Yon Rah. Yon Rah, scared and cornered, falls off from the cliff while running away from him. Zuko is shocked by what he had done. On the way back to fire nation, they encounter masked men who turn out to belong in Amber Eye Division, the secret army that had killed Mai.

After getting rid of them, they finally arrive at fire nation, only to see that the rebellions rose up already with Ozai on the lead. When they thought all the hopes were lost, the soldiers from Earth Kingdom(with kid whom Zuko had helped in the old days on the lead), powered by Bei Fong's fortune, soldiers from Southern Water tribe(who came voluntarily) and few of the Fire nationers who supported Zuko's regime come to prevent the rebellions.

After everything settles down, Zuko executes few people who started the rebellion. For Ozai, Zuko sends him back to his prison after showing him the lives of people he has ruined. Aang seems uncomfortable by this. Zuko says tha he will support the families of the executed rebellions financially, and that might cut loops of neverending revenge. Zuko admits that he had been too harsh to the people who supported Ozai's regime. He says that although he's not going to support them, he will treat them more kindly then before.

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Now we're done with summary... some scenes

1. While searching for information about the symbol Mai had left in archive.

"Let's take a break for a while." said Katara, looking at Zuko. Zuko was reading through a particularly large and ancient book.

"No. I'm going to keep searching." said Zuko, not turning around.

"Come on, you've been working all day today. A bit of break wouldn't hurt. Besides, resting a bit can increase workspeed." said Katara brightly. Zuko seemed to think for a while.

"Fine. I'll make some tea." said Zuko, closing the old book. He stood up to get some tea leaves and teapot.

"Is there any progress?" asked Katara, as Zuko started to grind tea leaves. Katara rolled the scrolls she has finished reading.

"No... I wish I had. Katara, water." said Zuko airilly, looking at her. As Katara opened the window, soft cool wind blew into the room. Katara stretched her arm out of window and bended some water from the small well below. As Katara moved her hands, the large bubble of water flew into the room, into the teapot. Then, Zuko started to heat the pot with firebending. As the pot heated up, Zuko sighed deeply. Katara sat on the long sofa facing the opened window. She could smell salty scent and feel the night wind from there.

"Oh, cheer up Zuko. You're doing the best you can do for Mai." said Katara caringly. Zuko looked at her with sad, empty expression on his face. Zuko kept heating the pot as Katara watched him. After a while, Zuko spoke.

"There's something making me regretful ever since Mai died." said Zuko tonelessly. He poured some tea into two cups. He walked over to Katara with cups in his hands.

"Here." said Zuko, handing Katara one cup.

"Thanks." said Katara, as Zuko sat down next to her with his cup. Zuko slowly sipped his tea.

"I'm regretting that even though I knew Mai for a long time, I never got to know about herself properly. See, I didn't even know that her uncle was in charge of Boiling Rock! I feel guilty about it." said Zuko gloomily. There was a silence between them. Zuko stared into the space darkly while Katara wondered what to say.

"Well, even if you didn't know who she was factually, it's all right if you knew and understood who she really was inside. Everyone can know that Mai was 'Master of projectile weaponary','Niece of Head of Boiling Rock'. But only those who really cared for her know who she is as a person." said Katara finally, looking out into the starry sky beyond the window. Zuko looked somehow confused by this.

"But..." Zuko started, but he lost what to say.

"It's better to understand who she was than knowing who she was in this world, but not knowing who she was in person if you really are the person who endear her. And I would rather prefer the first person too. There's nothing you should feel guilty about." said Katara, smiling kindly at Zuko. Zuko looked as if a small realization struck his heart. Zuko felt some weights being lifted from his heart. After a moment, he smiled gently for the first time in weeks.

"Thanks, Katara." said Zuko, looking back at Katara. Katara sipped her own tea and noticed that it had gone cold. Looking slightly startled look on Katara's face, Zuko noticed what had happened.

"Give me your cup for a moment." said Zuko, putting his own on the window-sil. Wondering what he is about to do, Katara handed him her cup. With Katara's cup in right hand, Zuko ignited a small fire at the tip of his forefinger on left hand. Then he placed left forefinger under the cup, warming it up. After a while, Zuko gave Katara steaming cup.

"Thanks, Zuko." said Katara. She smiled at Zuko mildly, and Zuko's heart began to beat slightly faster than usual at this. But before Zuko himself could notice, Sokka and Suki bursted into the room.

2. While riding to the Water tribe by Salamander coach with old woman, Baihe.

Since Baihe was in present, they couldn't talk about Mai nor things going on in the Fire Nation at the moment. Even though Baihe was sleeping, they couldn't risk it. So, the topic turned into something more personal. Soon, they were swapping cooking recipes and embroidery patterns. Katara somehow felt that Zuko is more understanding than Aang in a way.

3. Dinner with Baihe in presence.

Zuko stopped the salamanders by the river to feed them water. Katara went out to water and caught some trouts by waterbending. Zuko made a campfire to cook fish for dinner. Just as Zuko was about to grill the fish, Baihe hurriedly came out of the coach.

"Your balls are going to fall off if you cook! Have shame on yourself!" Baihe snapped. Zuko seemed to be shocked by this statement while Katara laughed.

"Grannies in my town used to say the same thing to Sokka whenever he tried to cook. I guess it's the thing about old people." said Katara, giggling. Zuko had his jaw dropped in shock.

"Besides! Your fire is too violent for cooking. You're going to burn all the fish! Let me do it." said Baihe. Slowly and delicately, controlling every movement of the fire, Baihe grilled the fish. Meanwhile, Zuko toook table and dishes in the coach out.

The fish tasted really nice. After eating, Katara and Baihe washed the dishes together,

"My son used to be in the army for a long time. So all he knew was how to fight. When he retired, he could to very little by himself. So I tried to teach him how to farm good fruits by himself, but it was no use. He always produced unedible products." said Baihe grumpily. Katara bended fresh water out of river to shower the dishes. Baihe looked bewildered by this, but Katara did not notice.

After eating, Katara and Zuko washed hair in the river. Katara dried her hair by bending water out. Thinking that it looked cool, Zuko tried to dry his own hair with firebending. However, his efforts of trying to look manly results in fire on his head. Katara pours water over Zuko's head and his hair becomes wet again. Looking at each other's face, Zuko and Katara laughs together.

(Note: I'm Asian, and the ball thingy is what my grandma(who is 85 years old) said to my little brother when he entered kitchen to help her with lunch lol.)

4. Toph and Aang, on their way to Earth Kingdom on Appa.

Toph, who felt really nervous when travelling on Appa, put some soil on Appa's back. Now the seats somehow looked like a minature garden with fertile soil all over. Suddenly, a huge flock of migrating birds came towards them. Toph pretended to be not scared, but she couldn't hide it in her face perfectly. Seeing this, Aang changed the direction of the birds by changing the air currents.

"Ah? I can see the birds!" Toph suddenly shouted. Aang jumped at her sudden yell.

"What? What do you mean Toph?"

"I... I dunno... Somehow, I could see what was in the air just like how I could with my feet... It must have been the air currents... It happened a few times before, but it was so clear this time."

Suddenly, Aang had an idea that will enable Toph to 'see' flying things.

5. Zuko and Katara is being chased by Amber Eye division at night in an abandoned underground prison.

Katara half-carried unconscious Zuko into the room and locked the door behind her. She tried to extract water from air and heal Zuko, but strangely, there weren't much water in the air. Katara was in great shock so she couldn't think much. Those shiny, amber-like eyes... She now understood why they were called 'Amber Eye Division'. With such clear eyes and innocent face, they killed people mercilessly without any kind of guilt. They had no emotion. Besides, she was still shaken by the fact that even if it was for a moment, Zuko tried to kill her. Even though Zuko had somehow broke his own arms to prevent himself from attacking her(who couldn't waterbend due to the lack of water in the air within this building) with firebending, it reminded her of the time when Zuko was after Aang. She put down Zuko to the floor. Suddenly, Zuko twitched and Katara shuddered.

"Hypnosists... I thought they only existed in ancient legends..." Zuko grumbled... Katara, still uncovered from the shock, was unsure about how to react at this.

"I know that you're confused... It's secret arts of firebending... only at night some of the talented people can put people under their will by using firebending... you know, there's a saying that candlelights can mesmerize you... I know it's hard to believe... So there's one thing I want to ask you. I know that you can't waterbend here right now, nor we can run away in state like this. And I know that they will come after us... And as you saw, it's hard for me to fight their hypnosis..." said Zuko. He flipped around to see the nearly full moon shining above them.

"It's nearly full moon... I know that you really hate it... but you're a powerful bender... This place used to be a prison to keep waterbenders, so there might be not much water in the air... There's only one way we can get out..." said Zuko. Suddenly, Katara realized what Zuko is trying to say to her. Like an old forgotten nightmare, a chill went down her spine.

"No... you can't possibly mean..." said Katara. There must be some other way to get out of this mess. There must be. She couldn't do this to her friend... to someone who she endeared so much...

"I don't want to hurt you again... Please Katara... bloodbend me..." said Zuko desperately.

6. Aang met up with another airbender who happened to live in secret until recently.

"So, you don't feel any grudge towards fire nationers who made our race like this?" said Ansu the airbender outrageously. "So you feel that you should value a person's life, even when that person has not valued others'?"

Ansu ignored Aang and began bending movements with wild look on his face. In a moment, the fire nation soldier made a very painful face, as if there were no air to breathe. The another soldier screamed and twitched like mad, as if an elephant was crushing him slowly. Aang was shocked by this. This technique was forbidden among Air Nomads due to its cruelty so Aang had only seen it in books, but he didn't know that it could be this horrible. It was Aang's first time seeing Pressurebending with his own eyes.

(Note: I thought, if water had ice, fire had lightening, earth had metal, why not pressure for air?)

* * *

And other abandoned ideas:

1. Azula actually wanted to be a king of Fire nation for a long time. She wasn't evil from the start. She was just way too ambitious. So she shaped herself up to be a perfect Fire Lady, even the personality. However, she was a girl and was daughter of second prince. So there was almost no way for her to become a ruler of fire nation. This is when her personalities began to go to the current direction. She tried everything in her power to bring down people in her way. Her goal had ruined her so much in so many ways. And when she realized it, she couldn't go back. After a few years of psychiatric treatment, she changes a lot.

2. Zuko feel that he likes travelling more than staying at one place as king. So he gives his throne to Azula, who wanted it so badly and worked hard for it. He then prepares portable teashop. For the rest of his life, he travels whole world with Katara, sending mail hawks to Azula if there are any areas with problems.

These two ideas, were sent to trashcan after I re-analyzed Zuko and Azula character.

There were so many other things I wanted to write about such as Katara thinking about meaning of revenge again, Zuko in anguish because he thinks he's more like Ozai than he used to think, Aang learning that there are people who never feels guilty and can't forgive everyone.

Looking back, this fic looks kind of childish in a way, but I admit that I really enjoyed writing it. I contribute this whole fanfic to katara_zuko, and the awesome grownup!Zuko and grownup!Katara poster drawn by atla animating director (which I can't link due to ffnet's policies.)


	2. Chapter 1:

The young king was sitting at the windowsill of the Fire Nation palace. He was staring into the sunset blankly with extremely worried look on his face. It happened a few days after the coronation. Mai went out with some woman servants at palace to meet Azula, who was at the quiet part of palace for psychical cure. No one knew she was gone until Zuko went to look for her, as it was dinner time, and found out that she had never gotten to the Azula's place. Zuko ordered everyone in palace to search for her, but she was nowhere to be found. Though there were signs of struggles and firebendings, there were no other traces left. Zuko wanted to conduct the search himself, but there were so many things to do as a Fire Lord so all he could do for past few months was to check if there were any progresses in the search. All the clue they've got so far was that one man took three women away after a bit of fight. Three months passed since then. Today, Zuko finished doing the day's work little early. Ever since Mai disappeared, whenever there was a spare time, Zuko thought about her.

'Knock knock'

There was a familiar light tap on the Zuko's office door. Even by the sound of the knock, Zuko knew who it was.

"Do come in." said Zuko emptily. As soon as he said so, the door opened and the teenage girl with light coffee skin and long brown hair came in. Zuko came off from the window and turned to face her as Katara closed the door.

"You look awful today as well." said Katara, looking at the Fire Lord's gaunt face with worried look. Zuko had not eaten well for days, nor slept soundly.

"Well, I'm so worried about Mai. I can't stop thinking about her. I wonder if she's doing all right right now... And all I can do at the moment is giving out orders and do nothing." said Zuko exasperatingly.

"Zuko..." said Katara. It was like that. Zuko always thought about Mai the most in the evenings, and Katara would come to him to talk to him and try to cheer him up somehow. Also, she was in the charge of the search while Zuko was struggling with politics, so she would report results as well.

"So, any good news today?" said Zuko hopelessly. There has been no news for days. To be perfectly honest, there has been no real progress ever since Mai disappeared. Though he really hoped for a news, he knew that there will be nothing for today as well.

"Well..." Katara hesitated for a moment, "I'm sorry to say, but no."

Zuko let out a heavy sigh. Katara seemed to be hurt by his reaction. Hurt by the fact that she couldn't do anything to prevent him from sighing like that again.

"Don't look at me like that Katara. I know that you're always trying your best on the search." said Zuko airily, looking at Katara blankly. Katara's face saddened. At that moment, there was another knock on the door. Zuko could guess who it was, as there was another person who always came after Katara came in. Before Zuko could answer, the door burst open and 13-year-old avatar came rushing in.

"Zuko, Katara! Mai came back!" Aang shouted. Momon on his back was squealing loudly.

"What?!" Zuko and Katara said in unison.

"Is she okay? Where is she now?" asked Zuko hurriedly.

"She's heavily wounded! She's currently at the royal hospital!" said Aang. Zuko seemed struck for a second.

"She's hurt?! Why?" asked Katara.

"We don't know yet. C'mon! Let's go!" said Aang, standing at the doorway. The three of them began to run at their top speed at once.

On the way, some of the palace staff said 'Your majesty, please care to keep your decency!' but Zuko ignored them. His head was full of Mai at the moment. He did not care if some royal ornaments came off from his body right now.

He did not care for the dignity as the Fire Lord at the moment. When the three of them arrived, the room was already filled with professional healers.

"Lemme see Mai, lemme see Mai!" said Zuko quickly, shoving people aside. When some hurried off, Zuko gasped loudly and Katara uttered a small scream: Mai was barely recognizable. 


	3. Chapter 2: Mai's Death

Before I begin, I would like to thank ell23 for submitting reviews! They really became my strength when I was too lazy to write!

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When the three of them arrived, the room was already filled with professional healers.

"Lemme see Mai, lemme see Mai!" said Zuko quickly, shoving people aside. When some hurried off, Zuko gasped loudly and Katara uttered a small scream: Mai was barely recognizable. Her lower jaw was gone missing and her face was half-burnt. There was no part of her body that was unharmed. Every tissue on her body was either ripped or burnt. It seemed that some bones were missing from her arm as well. No one could say anything at this horrid sight. It seemed like a miracle that Mai was even alive.

"How is she." asked Zuko in a low, silent tone. Usually, this would have creeped everyone nearby out, but the awfulness of Mai's state was enough to ignore it. Instead of responding, the healers just looked at each other. It looked as if they wanted to avoid telling Zuko the truth. Zuko felt extremely angry by their behaviors.

"I asked what had happened to Mai!" shouted Zuko impatiently. Finally, one of the oldest healers began to speak.

"As you can see, she's heavily injured. It seems that several kinds of acidic solutions and unknown substances damaged her body alongside some physical injuries... I think the criminal tried experiments on her body... At this rate, she won't be able to live for more than a day or two." said the old healer solemnly.

Zuko was devastated by these words. He wanted to believe what the old man said was just a bit of bad joke, but Mai's appearance painfully showed truthfully that she won't be able to live for long. Katara, with determined look on her face, stepped closer to Mai and tried healing her face and stomach with water. The water around her hand glowed in blue, making the wounds more visible.

"That's no use: So much of her body is destroyed that she cannot sustain her life for long." said the old Healer. Katara ignored him and continued healing.

"I know. But you can't just sit there and do nothing because it's near impossible to cure her. We have to try, don't we?" said Katara, continuing to heal. Other healers looked at each other, then at Zuko, then at themselves. They joined her healing Mai's body.

Several hours have passed, and there was a little progress in healing Mai's body. It was the middle of the night. All the healers have been tired out, so they went to rest with Zuko's permission, and Katara still remained healing her. Up till few hours ago, boy servants rushed in and out to bring fresh water to Katara, but seeing that they are tired as well, Zuko did the work of bringing in the needed water himself as most of the palace staff had gone home. He did not care for the prestige as a Lord right now. Although all of her external wounds have been healed roughly, there was no way to replace the missing lower jaw. All this time, Zuko was watching with both serious and sad expressions on his face. Aang stood to watch too, but an hour later, it seemed that his concentration ability began to fail him and now he was watching with I'm-trying-to-look-serious-though-I-am-tired look on his face. He was nodding off to sleep when the old healer entered the room.

"Stop healing now." said the elder healer as he came in. Aang woke with a startled look. Katara stopped healing at once. She was sweating badly from the work.

"Why stop now?" asked Zuko, his facial expression remaining the same. Katara's facial expression darkened, as if she knew what the old man was going to say.

"There's no point in healing her by bending anymore. Healing with bending gives great deal of stress to the body and it wouldn't matter if the body was recovering fast. But in our case, we've come to the limit of healing. If we did more, it will just damage her body." explained the old healer. Zuko and Katara looked painful. Was this all they could do for her? She still looked horrible, yet they had to stop here? Aang seemed shocked by these words as well.

"But can't you-" Aang began, but he was interrupted by the old healer, who was now examining Mai closely.

"This is the truth. You've got to learn to how to take it as an Avatar. Same goes to you, Lord Zuko." said the healer at Zuko, who was opening his mouth to say something. Zuko closed his mouth sadly and looked at Katara for a help. Katara shook her head silently, agreeing with the healer. It was true, that Mai could not be restored any more.

"The healing did not help her live any longer, but at least she will be able to die without pain in peace." said the old man quietly. Aang seemed to be thunderstruck by these words. Several thoughts collided in Zuko's head at the same time. One wanted to scream and go to punch something, others restrained him from doing so. He couldn't just take this fact. Mai, dying? Zuko did nothing but stand there and tremble. Katara seemed to understand what he was thinking. She walked up to him and gave him a hug. Zuko was surprised by her actions, but as she did so, he could not resist tears coming down from his eyes. He hugged her back very hard, due to the fact that he could not resist the pain in his heart, and Katara let him do so even though she felt as if her bones were going to break: She too, was very sad. Aang too, wanted to say something in protest to the healer, but the Mai's physical condition told him that what the elder healer had said was true. Tears dripped down from his cheeks. With such helplessness, he wanted to lean against someone, but he found that Katara was already taken by Zuko.

Feeling slightly rejected and annoyed, Aang sat down on the nearest chair. At that moment, Mai's hand moved. Zuko and Katara immediately got off from each other, and turned to Mai.

"Mai!" called out Zuko. Slowly, Mai opened her eyes and Katara let out restrainedscream quietly again: One of Mai's eyes had gone blind.

"Who had done this to you? Who, Mai!" said Zuko. It seemed that Mai tried to speak, but failed as her lower jaw, including her tongue was gone. Weakly, she waved her hands to gesture that she needed a paper.

"Get her some paper, quick!" ordered Zuko. Subconsciously, Katara followed his orders and brought paper and a pen to the room and handed it to Mai. With great effort, Mai sat up. With her hands trembling, she drew a strange symbol.

http : / i164. photobucket. com /albums/ u27/ Primuler/ maidrewsymbol.jpg

It was hard to guess what it was. It looked like an eye with weird pupil.

"Is this the person who made you like this?" asked Zuko in a low voice. Mai nodded. Zuko folded the paper carefully. and put it inside his pocket.

"Don't worry Mai. We'll get them and give them the punishment they deserve." said Zuko, almost whispering into Mai's ears.

Mai then looked at Katara, who was standing next to Zuko with strange facial expression that looked almost like a sad smile. Then she looked at Zuko.

Siganege sogah darun nugul hurakhago  
(Even if you allow someone else because time fooled you)

Darun nugungaege gide suro mutgo sandago hedo  
(Even if you lean against and confide in somone else)

Nal giukhejo. Hansunganiziman uriga saranghetdanun gun.  
(Remember me, though it was a short time, we loved each other,)

Nuwa nanun sarangun cham salmboda zalbjiman  
(The love I shared with you is shorter than a lifespan)

Ne chueksoke sanun sarangun yeungwonhaltenika.  
(But the love that lives in my reminiscence will last forever)

-From the song 'When the Blooming Spring Comes'

She then did some sort of 'bye-bye' with her hands as her eyes closed.

"Mai!! Mai!!" shouted Zuko in a shocked voice. Katara quickly went to check the pulses.

"She's still alive! She's just fallen asleep again." said Katara, reassurring Zuko. But somehow, Zuko's heart pounded very hard, as if it was the last of Mai he saw.

Though Katara said Mai had just fallen asleep, that was the last time anyone ever saw Mai opening her eyes.

- Few days later...

"Now that Mai's funeral had finished, I'm going to find the person who made her like that." declared Zuko in the one of the morning meetings at palace.

"Right, your majesty. Which of the search division are you going to send out?" asked one of the councellors.

"I'm going to do this personally. I will only call for a backup if neccessary. Before, I got so used to ordering around so I had let someone else to do the important work I should have done, and Mai died. So this time, to repay her death fully, I'm going to do this work myself." said Zuko quietly. People began to murmur their own opinions at each other at this.

"But your highness, if you do so, who will take care of this palace, this country?" asked the councellor.

"I've thought about that matter as well. I'm going to hand over the throne to Princess Azula until I finish this work." said Zuko. Many people seemed to be surprised by this declaration.

"But sire-" began councellor, but Zuko interrupted.

"Her mental health has been greatly improving. I have talked to her last night, and she's just the right person for this. Everybody agree?" said Zuko, looking around.

"Yes, your majesty." everyone replied at the same time with their heads down. (Note: In Asia, they do this when responding to what the king said.)

"Good. And prepare a personal Salamander I can ride for a journey. Dismissed!" said Zuko. He stood up to leave and the others began to leave after him as well.

As he got out of the conference room, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki greeted him.

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Katara. Everyone was in their usual outfit except Suki, whose 'usual outfit' was Kiyoshi warrior costume. She was wearing traditional Earth Kingdom woman's garment today.

"Finding out who didthat to Mai of course. First thing to do is to get to the Fire Nation Communication Tower. It's the biggest information archive in the nation." said Zuko.

"We'll join you too. I can't let the person who had done that to Mai run around freely. Mai was our friend too, wasn't she?" said Katara. Others nodded in agreement too.

"We'll teach him what happens to the person who messes with us." said Toph, cracking her fists. Sokka, who was standing right next to her, winced slightly at her force.

"Right. Thank you very much everyone.Let's go." said Zuko, with the piece of paper that Mai gave him in his hands.

'Whoever have done that to Mai, I'm going to kill him.'

--

Right. If you are asking 'You said it's a Zutara fic, yet Zuko and Katara doesn't show feelings towards each other when it's already chapter 2!' Well, I have nothing to say. Since I said 'Almost no OOCness guaranteed', I've got to make it realistic as possible, and Zuko and Katara needs some preparation time to be together (That's what I like about them though). But you can be sure, that Katara will certainly get to like Aang less than before on next chapter. That's one step forward to be honest. As for the picture, it's drawn with my left hand with Paint. As always, thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 3: Relief on Heart

My apologies to those who have waited.

Before I begin, here is the excuse for being so late with update: I do have a life. And a very busy one too.

Surprising, no? Because of this, though I finished planning this story a long ago, I'll be updating slowly.

And... I'm thinking about changing this fic's title into **'Choice of Peace, Result of Chaos'** because this story will focus on showing side effects&faults of Aang's aspects.

Would you care to vote wether:

(1) Remain with this title.

(2) Use the new title.

Right, I'll stop talking here. Now, let the story begin.

--

"Grrr..."

Toph growled through her greeted teeth. She was pacing up and down between the bookshelves, while Aang, Zuko, Katara, Suki and Sokka were reading through piles of scrolls. Reading wasn't her kind of thing. It wasn't because she did not fancy reading, but it was because she was blind. Everyone were at the topmost floor of Fire Nation Communication Tower. Sun was at the peak of the cloudless sky. It was such a nice afternoon. It has been a day since Zuko, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki and Toph had come to here to search for information about Mai's murderer after deciding that the symbol left by Mai was symbol of one of the Fire Nation armies('I have seen it somewhere, but I can't remember.' said Azula). Zuko had bit of problem with persuading the bookkeepers about letting everyone else search through Fire Nation's secrets. After promising that only Zuko would look at documents of Rank A and above, they agreed to let everyone else in as well. Sokka tried to complain about this, but since there was no other choice, they agreed on this. Ever since then, everyone has been looking through difficult documents. At first, Toph tried to help by putting documents back in their places, but since she couldn't see, she kept putting back in the wrong places. In the end, she gave up.

"Why is it taking so long to find the name of an army?" Toph finally bursted out. Everyone turned around to look at her, mildly surprised.

"Why don't you have control to all the armies in Fire nation Zuko? You're the king!" asked Toph, looking annoyed. She directed her face to where Zuko was, and everyone turned to look at him too.

Zuko seemed to be troubled by this statement.

"By the law of our country, the new emperor can only have secret divisions made by previous emperor only if he agreed to do so. And my father hasn't left me any. And... I'mnot proudof saying this, but Fire Nation is a country with long history of war practices. It wouldn't be strange if there were kinds of secret armies I didn't know." said Zuko regretfully.

"So could this mean that Ozai can be behind this incident?" said Suki so suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Not possible. I forbade everyone to meet him except Azula and my nanny. It's not likely that he could have been plotting something against me." said Zuko firmly. Then he went back to reading his own share of scrolls.

"Oh, come on Sokka. You've seen for yourself how much she had changed ever since the war. Let's get back to work." said Katara. Katara went back to her own pile of scrolls. Seeing this, Sokka shrugged and he and Suki resumed their own as well. Just as Aang, he too, was about to continue his work, Toph grabbed him.

"Let's go out." said Toph, pulling Aang.

"Why?" asked Aang, looking apprehensive. It seemed that he rather wanted to stay with everyone else than go out with Toph.

"Come on. You haven't mastered Earthbending yet and you haven't practiced it even once ever since the fight with Ozai ended." said Toph irritably. Sokka turned around to Aang.

"And yeah, who knows if this world will need saving again? Go ahead. We can handle this work by ourselves. Tough Toph needs some exercise." said Sokka slyly. Toph shot a what seemed like a glare to Sokka, as if she had been treated like a restless child.

"But... but... thid building id built on the rock, and there's hardly any ground we can stand on! And also..." Aang began to say, but to everyone's surprise, Zuko interrupted him.

"There's a giant cavern under this building that no one had used for years. You can use there." said Zuko, not turning around. There was no excuse for Aang to stay in anymore. He whined soundlessly as Toph half-dragged him out of the room. For several minutes, everyone worked silently. After a while, Sokka spoke.

"Hey Zuko. There's something I've been curious about ever since we came here."

"What is it?" said Zuko, not turning around.

"How come there are so few securities and staffs in this building when it's the nation's biggest information archive?" asked Sokka.

"Thinking about it, there were at least twice as many people as this when we came here last time." said Katara.

"Ah, that's because I gave half the staff holidays." said Zuko, still not turning around.

"Holidays?" said Suki, looking at the back of Zuko's head. Zuko turned around to look at them all.

"This island is isolated from the mainland so those who work here don't get to see their families often. And I've been working them overtime for last few months to find Mai, and they've got not much to do these days so I decided to give them some holidays, that's all." said Zuko, looking at Sokka and Suki.

"Ah, I see. It's pretty nice of you to give them some time off like that." said Sokka.

"Thanks." said Zuko, getting back to his pile. Seeing that Zuko is working so hard, Sokka gave up talking and went back to his work.

For next few hours, nothing interesting had happened. The sun had gone down and now the sky was filled with stars. The silence between the four was broken by sound of cry for food in Sokka's stomach.

"We...el... It's getting bit late now, isn't it? I'm going to go to look for Aang and Toph." said Sokka, standing up with slight blush on his face.

"I'll go with you. And let's get something to eat on the way back." said Suki kindly, standing up as well.

"Okay. Do be careful." said Katara, as Zuko nodded. Sokka and Suki cleared the scrolls they've already looked at away and walked out of the room together.

"Let's take a break for a while." said Katara, looking at Zuko. Zuko was reading through a particularly large and ancient book.

"No. I'm going to keep searching." said Zuko, not turning around.

"Come on, you've been working all day today. A bit of break wouldn't hurt. Besides, resting a bit can increase workspeed." said Katara brightly. Zuko seemed to think for a while.

"Fine. I'll make some tea." said Zuko, closing the old book. He stood up to get some tea leaves and teapot.

"Is there any progress?" asked Katara, as Zuko started to grind tea leaves. Katara rolled the scrolls she has finished reading.

"No... I wish I had. Katara, water." said Zuko airilly, looking at her. As Katara opened the window, soft cool wind blew into the room. Katara stretched her arm out of window and bended some water from the small well below. As Katara moved her hands, the large bubble of water flew into the room, into the teapot. Then, Zuko started to heat the pot with firebending. As the pot heated up, Zuko sighed deeply. Katara sat on the long sofa facing the opened window. She could smell salty scent and feel the night wind from there.

"Oh, cheer up Zuko. You're doing the best you can do for Mai." said Katara caringly. Zuko looked at her with sad, empty expression on his face. Zuko kept heating the pot as Katara watched him. After a while, Zuko spoke.

"There's something making me regretful ever since Mai died." said Zuko tonelessly. He poured some tea into two cups. He walked over to Katara with cups in his hands.

"Here." said Zuko, handing Katara one cup.

"Thanks." said Katara, as Zuko sat down next to her with his cup. Zuko slowly sipped his tea.

"I'm regretting that even though I knew Mai for a long time, I never got to know about herself properly. See, I didn't even know that her uncle was in charge of Boiling Rock! I feel guilty about it." said Zuko gloomily. There was a silence between them. Zuko stared into the space darkly while Katara wondered what to say.

"Well, even if you didn't know who she was factually, it's all right if you knew and understood who she really was inside. Everyone can know that Mai was 'Master of projectile weaponary','Niece of Head of Boiling Rock'. But only those who really cared for her know who she is as a person." said Katara finally, looking out into the starry sky beyond the window. Zuko looked somehow confused by this.

"But..." Zuko started, but he lost what to say.

"It's better to understand who she was than knowing who she was in this world, but not knowing who she was in person if you really are the person who endear her. And I would rather prefer the first person too. There's nothing you should feel guilty about." said Katara, smiling kindly at Zuko. Zuko looked as if a small realization struck his heart. Zuko felt some weights being lifted from his heart. After a moment, he smiled gently for the first time in weeks.

"Thanks, Katara." said Zuko, looking back at Katara. Katara sipped her own tea and noticed that it had gone cold. Looking slightly startled look on Katara's face, Zuko noticed what had happened.

"Give me your cup for a moment." said Zuko, putting his own on the window-sil. Wondering what he is about to do, Katara handed him her cup. With Katara's cup in right hand, Zuko ignited a small fire at the tip of his forefinger on left hand. Then he placed left forefinger under the cup, warming it up. After a while, Zukogave Katara steaming cup.

"Thanks, Zuko." said Katara. She smiled at Zuko mildly, and Zuko's heart began to beat slightly faster than usual at this. But before Zuko himself could notice, Sokka and Suki bursted into the room.

"Zuko! Katara! Look what Toph and Aang's found at the underground cavern!" said Sokka excitedly.

--

I said Katara will get to like Aang less in this chapter because I was planning to put Aang's argument with Zuko in this chapter, but the chapter turned out to be longer than I thought so I decided to put the argument on next chapter. I just hope that the conversation between Zuko and Katara didn't sound unnatural.

And... writing Toph and Sokka just kills me. Well, I could cope with Toph somehow, but Sokka... well, let's just say that I'm not good at making jokes like him.

**Reviews are everything for a storywriter! I would really appreciate it even if you comment anything about this fic! Criticisms are welcomed!**


	5. A Bit of Notice

A short, but disappointing bit of notice for everyone who had been waiting for the next chapter.

As I've mentioned before, I do live a very busy life, and I realized that I might be able to update next chapter like

five months later.(it's pretty hard to come up with descriptive sentences you know).

And will anyone wait for it? I don't think so. I do hate waiting personally,

and I don't do things to people I don't want them to do to me. So, here I declare that there will be no updates henceforth.

This fic was going to contain messages I wanted to say to Avatar fans and the developers.

Here is the list of stuff I was going to put in this fic. If you want to use some of these, just notify me.

It may sound harsh, but I really don't care any more as they are now 'dead ideas' to me.

1. The symbol left by Mai was indeed a symbol for a secret army called 'Amber Eye'. It's a special division where only 'psychopathy' are allowed. The divison is called 'Amber Eye' because psychopahies usually have child-like pure eyes, like an amber. Since they can't feel emotions, Amber Eyes can kill people with no remorse. They don't even know it's wrong to kill people. That was how they could do horrible things to Mai. (But not all the psychopathies are like that. Amber Eye divison members had been trained like that) The army is under direct command of Ozai.

2. Aang should realize that he can't forgive everyone. Whether psychopathies or not, there are people who don't or can't feel remorse for what they've done. Those people never learn. That's the reality. Letting those kinds of people run around freely will cause more disaster. You can't always choose 'peaceful way'. As an Avatar, he should learn what to do with those kinds of people. I'm not saying that violence is justice to everything, but there are times when it just has to be used.

3. Aang creates special kind of air currents, enabling Toph to 'see' projectiles.

4. Katara quickly shut the door and barred it. Things couldn't have gotten worse. Zuko was beaten up badly and couldn't move as his bones were broken. She laid him carefully next to the small window. It was full moon tonight. Moonlight shone softly on Zuko and Katara. There was no water around and Katara had used her remaining water on healing Zuko. Still, large golem, their enemy was still out there, trying to break the door.

"Katara... could you lend me your ear?" said Zuko over the loud noise of golem trying to break the door open. Katara leaned close. Zuko muttered some things to Katara.

"I know this sounds crazy... There's no other way. And we have to take him down no matter what." said Zuko, pleadingly.

"But..." began Katara, but Zuko interrupted her.

"Please Katara... Bloodbend me."

5. Though Fire Nation declared peace, many people still hold grudges against it, and Ozai had been on the throne for too long. There are lots of his supporters at large and many of them may don't like Zuko at all. So when rebellions come up, no other countries give out a helping hand to Zuko. Aang should have killed Ozai as other avatars recommended.

6. Zuko, Toph and Katara persuades both emperors to lend armies while Aang, Sokka and Suki are handling rebellions at Fire Nation with Azula.  
'I know that lots of people still hold grudges against Fire Nation. But if things go like this, Ozai will be back on throne and he will try to start dominating other countries again. Please, trust Zuko. He is not like his father at all'  
Toph uses bit of Bei Fong's fortune to support helping armies.

7. On their journey back to Fire Nation, Zuko, Katara sees some poor villagers who lost their everything to Fire Nation. Zuko gets extremely angry at Ozai for this.

8. After the war, all the people who participated in rebellion are executed, except Ozai. As it's not right for son to kill his father, Zuko sends him back to the dungeon after showing him the villages and the lives of people he ruined.

9. To stop 'repeating revenge', Zuko promises to give financial supports to the families who had their members executed.

'It's not the most peaceful way, but this was the best I could think of.'

10. Zuko saying words of thanks to Katara while both of them watches Aang, Toph, Suki and Sokka playing dodgeball.

11. Toph sighing by the fact that she can't read still.

12. Aang once said that he understands how Katara feels about her mother's death, but his descriptions didn't describe it precisely. I doubt that he understands what it feels like to have a mother taken away. It feels as if your whole life had been torn into pieces. Every good bits of it. Unlike Katara, Aang lived in peace for a long time(he was frozen in the ice, remember?). Katara felt attracted to Aang because Aang seemed to have what Katara didn't have. She thought that she might be able to find peace, but all she realizes now is that he's too childish, only dreaming fantasies. On the other hand, Zuko lived a similar life to Katara. People with similar kinds of wounds can help each other to move forwards, as they know what it is like being in other's shoes. Honestly, even very understanding people can know only how they feel. They never can get the depth of the feeling properly.

Opposites attract, yes. But they can never understand each other if they are too different.


End file.
